40 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIE.\XE 
contributions on fishes: The Pishes of the Des Moines Basin (Proc. la. Acad, 
of Sci. 1:43, Part II). A study of these animal forms no doubt led up to study 
the work of that erratic naturalist, Rafinesque, of whom he wrote a biographibal 
sketch. “The Life and Writings of Rafinesque” trying to properly place this 
writer among the American naturalists*. He has also made a number of 
geological and botanical contributions. The Geology of Crowley’s Ridge (Rep. 
Arkansas Geol. Survey, between 87-92); The Artesian Wells in Iowa (Iowa 
Acad. Sci. 1:57, Tart II); Notes on the Native Forest Trees of Eastern Ar- 
kansas (Proc. la. Acad. Sci. 1:76, Part I). Dr. Call is at present working upon 
the Unionidae of North America and upon Fungi Destructive to North American 
Forests.** Dr. Call’s work has been a great credit to the Iowa Academy of 
Science. 
Mr. F. M. Witter, whom I counted among my early acquaintances in Iowa, 
was of a very different temperment, calm, judicious, less enthusiastic only, 
because he had less time to give to the study of natural history, since he was 
burdened with executive duties as superintendent of the Muscatine Schools. 
He was, how^ever, thoroughly familiar with the local botany, zoology, and 
geology of the region about Muscatine. His v/ide and varied interests may be 
seen from the papers published in the early volumes of the Proceedings of the 
Academy (Notes on some Shells, Perns, etc., Proc. Iowa Acad, of Sci. 1:17, 
Part I); Some Observations on Helix Cooperi (Proc. la. Acad. Sci. 1:28, Part 
III); On the Absence of Ferns between Port Collins and Meeker, Colorado, 
(Proc. la. Acad. Sci. 1:29, Part III); Notice of a Stone Implement from Mercer 
County, Illinois, and one from Louisa County, Iowa, (Proc. la. Acad. Sci. 1:30, 
Part III). He was also active in the older Iowa Academy of Science as shown 
in its proceedings published in 1880. 
Men like Witter help scientific work largely by their contact with their 
fellow . men. At least one of Mr. Witter’s pupils has become a botanist, Mr. K. 
McKenzie, who has published in connection with Mr. Bush and Bishop Mann> 
papers dealing with the Flora of Jackson County, Missouri. He has elaborated 
the genus Carex for Britton’s North American Flora. 
The following is a brief account of the life of Mr. Witter taken chiefly from 
a biographical sketch prepared by Prof. Shimek***. 
Mr. Witter had the spirit of an investigator, and his intimate knowledge of 
shells led him to question the adequacy of the aqueous theory of the origin 
of loess. As early as 1880 he suggested that this theory could not explain its 
origin. In addition to his published scientific papers in the Academy reports, 
he made use of the local press. He also founded the Muscatine Academy of 
Science, which existed largely through his efforts. 
Mr. Witter was born in St. Joseph, Indiana, August 15, 1839, removed to 
Iowa in 1850, enduring the hardships of a pioneer life. *He graduated from 
the Normal Department of the State University in 1861, receiving the degree 
of B. S. in 1869 and the M. A. in 1875. The Iowa Chapter of Sigma Xi elected 
him an honorary member in 1906, practically at the close of his scientific labors 
in Iowa. It is seldom given to a man in Iowa to be connected with its public 
schools for nearly half a century in a single community. He organized the 
*Those who may ho interested in this naturalist will find a splendid biographical 
sketch and bibliography by T. J. Fitzpatrick. 
='‘=*In his letter to me Jan. 27th, he says: “A strange combination.” 
**'-^Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 17:7. 
